


Sympathetic Development

by shreddingstars



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-12 00:48:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2089386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shreddingstars/pseuds/shreddingstars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of all the things to become routine on the ship, it's Mandatory Leaf Time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sympathetic Development

So it turns out that accessing Earth's Internet from the edge of the galaxy is an ornery bitch of a job, and not just any bitch, a special kind of bitch. Possibly the bitchingest bitch Quill's ever faced, and he's had more of his encounters with cracking door codes on Andarian looter ships and passwords to Vernonese credit accounts and various technological what-have-yous. And if it were up to him, there would be no such thing as bragging about those kinds of accomplishments, Rocket's snickering notwithstanding. After all, Peter Quill was the best hacker and mechanic that he knew before _someone_ with _unfair genetic enhancements_ came along and pissed away his reputation.

As such, the fact that it takes him more than five minutes to root out a human-created website says a lot.

Too much, actually. Way, way too much about how he apparently doesn't understand his own damn planet. It's been more than two decades, yeah – he had to learn about the World Wide Web from a Martian trader who was so, so disappointed that Terran porn videos were suddenly blasting and groaning and slapping across galaxy telescreens and sucking the value from his lovingly collected VHS tapes – but what should that matter? Terran technology is a favorite topic in Xandarian comedy clubs. Not that those people have anything close to a sense of humor, but _still._

Even worse, there's this really nasty cocktail of boredom and anticipation making the rounds aboard the ship. Not quite the dangerous “space fever” they whisper about on wealthier planets with weird stereotypes about people who screw around the galaxy on starships, but it has managed to turn the others into weirdos and that's _really_ saying something. About an hour in, Quill notices that Rocket, Gamora, and Drax have this turn-based monitoring system going on. Every eight minutes or so, one of them gets up and another comes to replace the deserter at this very specific location next to Peter's work station, just close enough to make him narrow his eyes at the screen and concentrate really hard on not snapping at them like the patient angel he is.

In a way, they help, but they mostly don't help. In Peter's half-tipsy head, it sounds like the story of their lives. But Peter's half-tipsy head also kind of wishes that _someone_ would do _something_ instead of everyone actually taking this matter quietly and seriously and leaving Peter in cryptic, ominous peace while he does his job, so he's not really listening to himself right now.

Besides, Gamora nearly clawed his eyes out the one time Quill referred to her as “the peanut gallery”. He can still feel the press of her nails on his neck.

He gets where he needs to go, eventually. Of all the Terran coffee shops that he doesn't know about, Starbucks is not one of them. Quill is pretty sure there have been talks about putting a ripoff Starbucks on Jupiter's moon. That would be so much easier to tap, he thinks, but for what it's worth the first connection he encounters – a Starbucks Wi-Fi signal – opens up like-

“-the legs of a tight-lipped Verisian slumber...” he freezes, trailing off before he can complete the statement. Gamora is shooting him the most intense “offended crazy person” look he's seen in a while. Or ever. It's all eyebrows and impossibly widened eyes, except he's not getting maimed right now and that means he's getting away with something for once.

Anyway, the Internet thing has just turned him into a winner, and therefore no one can criticize him.

“'Google' seems to be a highly useful research tool, if you were willing to spend such a large amount of time getting through to it,” Gamora comments as Quill mindlessly clicks on a Terms and Conditions acceptance checkbox and logs on. Most of what she says goes in one ear and out the other, but for what it's worth Quill marks the statement as a +1 against every witless Xandarian comedy act he's ever had the misfortune of overhearing. He also considers himself completely forgiven for the “Verisian slumberwoman” slipup.

“That it is, Gamora. As far as I know, there isn't a good equivalent of ol' Google for any other networks in the developed part of the galaxy, unless some planet or other is really good at secret-keeping,” he says matter-of-factly, eyes glued to the screen.

The cursor blinks idly in the Google searchbox. Rocket meanders up to the workstation.

“And yet, your excitement to use it leaves something to be desired.” He pushes Peter's elbow. “Chop, chop, Quill! Stop acting like you're doing this 'cause you're in the market for a gravestone or somethin'.”

Peter doesn't need to be reminded about how close they came to getting a gravestone for Groot, but that's probably why Rocket says it. And the half-empty glass of Meridian ale within Quill's reach is what causes him to decide that yes, joking about stuff like this is definitely a healthy coping mechanism. Somewhere in a part of the ship that Quill can't see, under the artificial light that Rocket built in less than an hour with parts from a junkyard planet trading post, Groot may or may not be humming a Stevie Wonder tune off-key like Peter accidentally taught him and that is a miracle.

As it turned out, re-sprouting in any location that wasn't his home planet had only sufficed for Groot's first three months or so of growth. By the time the little pile of leaves he'd grown and then shed off had become noticeable, it was month five. But the smaller details surrounding the whole debacle of arguing about the distance to Groot's home planet and then _actually reading up_ on why Groot hadn't stepped out of the pot yet are on the outskirts of Quill's head as he sits at the console because the solution, as it turns out, is right here onboard the ship.

The short version is that Google is going to save Groot.

“Groot's people go through what is called _sympathetic development,_ ” Drax had stated to Rocket the day before, grasping a book they didn't intend to return to whatever intergalactic library system it came from. “Initial sprouting is instinctual, but after a time the younglings watch the older individuals extend their branches and grow their leaves, and only then may they learn to do it themselves. The young may even learn by watching the less intelligent plants often kept as pets on their homeworld, but some sort of other plant must be there. Since Groot was once an adult, he retains his memories, but this learning process seems to be crucial, regardless.”

And thus, in go the keywords: _tree growing._ It certainly can't hurt, and the only images of Groot's actual people they had found were terrible sketches in the research material. Rocket and Gamora have already charted a course to Groot's homeworld if push comes to shove. They have odd jobs and odder jobs waiting for them on this side of the star system, but no one really wants to be the one asshole who can't give up a few credits for a friend.

Quill forces himself to not be frustrated at the shitty little three-step cartoon diagrams of trees that greet him after five minutes of page loading. After all, the images are one point on the list of results. The second one is a thumbnail for a video called “tree time lapse”, and Peter ends up being thankful that Gamora's sitting right there and has the good sense to make him test out first. There's going to be a lovely conversation about embarrassing human CGI technology later, but it saves Groot from trying to grow rubbery fake leaves and unnaturally smooth brown branches.

The next thing they find – “Acorn to Tree” – is a short but promising start.

“Eh, skip the seed part, though. He's way past that,” says Rocket. Peter doesn't argue; the less of this video's soundtrack he hears, the better.

In terms of natural environments, there are planets and then there are _planets._ Earth is one of the latter. Almighty Google informs them that there are more than 297,000 species of plants on Earth, and Peter is honestly surprised. He remembers maybe about twenty different types of flowers that he's actually seen in person, and no one could ever blame him for not paying attention to the variety of the damn trees. But it's only now that Peter realizes that being abducted has granted him twenty-odd years of perspective. There are few other planets with landscapes as intriguing as Earth's.

They watch several more videos of trees growing, and then head to Google Images. Gamora chooses a picture of a fully-grown pine strung with tiny golden lights, and Rocket has to cut Quill's explanation of Christmas trees short. Rocket himself chooses a picture of a forest with sunlight streaming through the trees, nicely spotlighting the many ferns and grasses and mosses that make up its floor.

Peter chooses a picture of a strong tree trunk. In front of it is a single white Aster flower. Those are the only kind that he really remembers. Mom could never stop the aphids from eating them.

“Hey Drax!” Rocket calls out too loudly when they're finished. “Bring Groot in here, would you?”

* * *

 

 

Drax moves Groot and his tiny artificial light in front of the display, and as soon as he catches sight of the acorn sprout from first video, Groot widens his eyes and literally grows toward the screen. His spindly arms stretch out to make grabby hands, a sight that makes Gamora grin and laugh.

 

* * *

 

Several weeks later, they have a routine.

So yeah, Peter may be _just a little_ annoyed that now there's a little bit more background music playing around the ship, but it's not the end of the world that Groot gets to sway along to lilting violins while practicing keeping his leaves for extended periods of time. Adults of Groot's species usually choose whether or not to keep full bunches of leaves on their bodies, but Drax and his book-knowledge are adamant about leaf-management while Groot is still really small. And thus, videos of the wind breezing through orange groves and whatnot.

But Groot actually loves the flowers the best. Except for mandatory leaf time, the group mostly lets Groot signal which pictures he wants to stare at when browsing galleries. Rocket theorizes that Groot likes the differently shaped leaves and stems. Drax says that there's no reason for Groot to be particularly attracted to flowers, as they're a secondary growth on the bodies of his species. Gamora shrugs and suggests that they leave him be. Quill bookmarks at least ten nature photography websites.

No one notices it until it's already grown, but only because Groot manages to make that much progress literally overnight. It's Peter's turn at the console, and he's fallen asleep with his head on his arms. Groot stares at the display for five hours and concentrates very hard.

 

* * *

 

“I believe you should be more grateful, Peter Quill. Clearly he meant it as a thank you.”

“I-”

“She's right, Pete. He never pulled these kinds of stunts for me back in the day!"

“You have a love of unusually large flowers, Rocket?”

“What kind of question is that, Drax? I'm okay with flowers, but that wasn't the point. I saved this tree's ass at least fifty thousand billion times and most times there was no 'I am Groot' to go along with it. He farts around at the console for like fifteen minutes so we can look up plant pictures and oh, wow, it's time to bust out the gardening skills!”

“So wait, does that mean you want this thing?”

“ _Wow_ , asshole.”

“I'm just saying! It's not that I don't appreciate it, okay? Look, it's actually heavy. It's bigger than you are, Rocket. The width of its stem took up the entire top of his head and I'm pretty sure it just broke off on its own instead of him picking it.”

“All the more reason why you should cherish it with gratitude.”

“Thank you, Gamora, for speaking sense! Now, in terms of vases, I say we actually skip vases and go looking for tubs.”

“Can I at least have a picture of you with it?”

“Hell to the no!”

* * *

 

In the end, they name the white Aster Andy, short for Andromeda. Its blossom rivals the size of Peter's head, and as such it's big enough to deserve a name. Every vase they put it in ends up in pieces.

Peter ends up pressing it in the book from the library. The smell of pollen never quite leaves the ship's front seats.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Asters symbolize patience.
> 
> This is probably the sappiest thing I've ever written. Even worse, my brain wants to do a whole series of fics in which Groot bestows plants upon people, so I guess if you put your favorite plant in the comments my brain might actually get off its lazy ass and do that sometime.


End file.
